Most of us go through life viewing writing to be neutral. We acknowledge it, see it, but don’t appreciate it. Most of us don’t think about it, don’t care about it and simply, don’t do it. We ignore it and often take it a step further by cheating a written piece. You may ask, “How so?” Well, each day many of us are often too turned off by the concept of writing to the point where we ask Siri to write for us. We even voice command a text message, instead of writing it ourselves.

But why? Writing is something so beautiful. It is a creation that has never been produced in the world before. Whenever you write something, anything, no matter relevant or lack thereof, the world has never experienced that exact piece of writing before. You are producing a first-time piece of literature. Writing is so powerful that it can create happiness, sadness, anger, frustration, laughter, guilt and inspiration all at once. But what’s even more peculiar is that these emotions are generated just by your eyes looking at some black scribbles on a piece of paper. That’s all it is.

Truly understanding that the power of writing can change one’s perspective is the first step to appreciating it. People look at writing and incorporate it into their daily life regularly. When a fan reads his sports team’s post-game article, the movie buff ponders the latest review, the students seeks out the history textbook, or the book worm picks up their next novel, these all involve making a choice to read a written piece. But what goes overlooked is the effect that writing has on the individual. The thoughts, feelings and desires generated from the writing are special, yet underappreciated.

I want to make sure that my readers are not just reading to read. I want my readers to read writing that will impact their perspective on a topic, feeling in the moment, and outlook on their future. Based on that mission, I promise you not just to write for the hell of it, but that I will write monumental pieces that will be transformational for you. I want to be real with you, so you learn how to be real with yourself. I want you to learn to accept writing for what it is, a creation, not something that gets crumpled and thrown into the nearest garbage can.

What I have found over the years is that people like to hear and see things through storytelling. We aspire to obtain knowledge not from a teacher, but from a teacher who lived out what they are teaching. For example, listening to an athlete give motivational advice who has lost loved ones, faced injuries and overcame intense career obstacles is more compelling than an athlete providing success tips if he doesn’t back it with a story.

This point triggers how writing has changed my life. I want to break down my personal journey to you so you can depict how I went from not even acknowledging writing to using it as a focal point in my life.

It was the middle of June 2014. I was sitting alone in my room on a warm night in Southern California. My mind began racing because I had just finished my second successful year of college, yet I felt a sense of emptiness. I had a great network of friends, did well in school, and had a great lifestyle while in college. But for some reason, I felt there was a gap missing. It took many nights of deep thinking and reflection to realize that though I loved my current life, I wasn’t regularly doing what I wanted to do. I identified that one of my mission’s is to help people. Since college was busy and chaotic, I never focused on helping people, nor did I ever do it. But once I figured out that was a missing piece, I began determining how I would carry it out.

On this night, in the middle of June, I finally pinpointed how I could help people. It was a way that I never thought of. However, in this moment, I knew how apparent this thought was and how real it was going to be. I was going to help people through writing. Not just that, but more specifically, I was going to help people by writing a book based on truthful storytelling.

Though I figured out what the missing piece was, little did I know just how impactful writing would be on my journey. For the next six months, I faced never-ending internal dilemmas on whether to write the book or not. I was terrified of peoples’ judgments of me, the time commitment and the fear of not being accepted by a publisher. When I gained the confidence to carry out my mission and tune out the opinions of others, writing became a shoulder to lean on.

On January 7, 2015, I wrote my first words, and never looked back. I would spend fourteen months writing my creative nonfiction story, “The Battle Against Yourself.” On days when I was bombarded with homework as a full-time college student, stressed with exams or had friends asking me to hang out, I always fit in time to scribble the black ink on paper. Some nights I would spend up to 10 hours at a time writing and be up until 2a.m. at the University of Arizona library. Writing became not just a passion, hobby or interest, but more so a love.

I learned to appreciate what writing actually was, and learned to eliminate what my preconception of it was. I learned that writing is a journey, a marathon, not a sprint. It became prevalent that writing was more than putting the pen to the paper to accomplish an objective. Writing spoke to me by what it is, a form of first-time art that can change one’s thoughts, feelings and emotions. Writing can teleport your thoughts to different times of your life, the past, present and future. Writing can create a mental image that seems so real that it’s as if you’re watching a movie. But most of all, writing captivates the imagination and does anything and everything but limit it. It makes someone’s thoughts become a reality. I know this is true because at one point, I just thought about writing a book, but writing is what took it to the next level of producing a reality.

As I spent fourteen months writing a story about my life, the devastating depression I went through, and the countless unforgettable moments, it felt as if I was nearly reliving the events again. However, writing allowed me to put my own creative twist on it to the point where I was content reliving experiences with depression, hatred and near-death exposures. Writing was the calming nature to a strenuous journey. Writing opened my mind to opinions and thoughts I never knew were possible. The guilt, remorse, and jealousy I felt over certain individuals from the past instantly disappeared, and has remained gone. Writing has taken what I have experienced in the past and the negative thoughts resulting from those experiences, and transformed them into senses of appreciation, clarity and humility. Writing has made me view people differently, the good ones and the ones that caused me grief. It has expanded my mind to the point of no boundaries. Writing has put into perspective how brutally close I was to dying when I attempted suicide.

Writing has transformed the denials into realities, and the fears into acceptances. Writing has given me a forward-thinking approach to life. Writing has given me a tangible item that I can leave with the world…a story from truth turned into a book. Not just a book, but a book that can help you with your mental, emotional and spiritual life.

And now, if you pick up my story and allow the writing to do its work, you will see the magnificence and value it holds. Allow it to take your preconceived judgments and turn them into inspiring truths. “The Battle Against Yourself” will take you on a journey of pure authenticity to some of the deepest trenches life can offer a lone man.

In the spectrum of literature, all I care about is for you to accept writing for what it is….an original piece of art that the world has never seen before. It is a piece of work that can stick with you for the rest of your life and not only change, but improve who you are. Writing can be anything you want it to be and you can use it however you want to. Writing is a transformative, powerful piece of literature that needs to be understood, and not underappreciated.